


Forever and Always

by paulatheprokaryote



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brother Feels, Brotherly Love, Community: HPFT, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Pumpkin Juice, Riots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paulatheprokaryote/pseuds/paulatheprokaryote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <img/>
</p>
<p>A story detailing the Great Pumpkin Juice Riot of 2021.</p>
<p>Written for Magenta Robes./Musing's Taylor Swift Ultimate Challenge and banner by Enigma @ the-dark-arts.net</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever and Always

“FINE! IF THAT’S THE WAY WINKY FEELS, REMMY DOES NOT WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE DRAMA!” screeched Remmy as he stood directly outside of a still life of a bowl of fruit that served as the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchens.

“WELL WINKY DOESN’T WANT TO EVER SEE REMMY AGAIN!” Winky shouted, tears flowing down her streaky cheeks and snot bubbling out of her elongated nose.

“What the bloody hell is happening down here?” Albus Potter stumbled across his older brother, James, on his way down to the kitchens for a light snack. James shushed Albus, crouching behind the corner so as not to interrupt the screaming.

“FINE!” Remmy threw his hands in the air exasperated.

“GOOD!” Winky shrieked. Albus involuntarily covered his ears at the piercing pitch.

“He’s coming this way! Quick, under the cloak!” James threw a shimmering material across both of the boys. Albus had gotten quite lanky over the summer and had to scrunch up his toes so they wouldn’t poke out under the cloak.

Safely around the corner, Remmy tugged angrily at his Honeydukes uniform as he paced back and forth muttering to himself. Albus could only really make out bits of his angry murmurs like “...knows that I love her…” and “...absolutely impossible sometimes…” but it was enough to gather what was going on. James leaned forward excitedly, as if watching his favorite rubbish reality show.

“I’ve got a stash of chocolate frogs in my dormitory.” James whispered, pulling off the invisibility cloak after Remmy finally stormed out of the corridor.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s safe in the kitchens right now.” Albus grinned at his brother, following him up to the Gryffindor common room. Albus always liked brother time anyway.  
\-------------------------------  
“Captain’s log: Spelldate: October something---Hey ALBUS! What’s today’s date?” James called to his brother sitting at the Slytherin table chewing his toast.

“The twenty-seventh!” Albus called back, cheeks hot from embarrassment. Most of the students were now staring at him.

“Thanks!” James shot a grin at his shy brother. Despite his introversion, his brother always played along with him.

“It’s been four days now without pumpkin juice. I fear the students will revolt soon. Hufflepuffs seem to be leading the charge.” He glanced over at the Hufflepuff table which seemed to be murmuring angrily. To be fair, everyone was on edge at the moment. For some reason, Honeydukes hasn’t delivered any of the usual supplies in over a week. By chance, Hogwarts had enough to survive a few days before the shortage began. The rumor was that McGonagall visited Honeydukes mere days ago and no one answered the door.

“You dolt. You aren’t even writing anything down, you’re just narrating.” Rose rolled her eyes at her obnoxious cousin.

“I didn’t have a quill." James shrugged. He was forced to choke his dry toast down with, Merlin forbid, water. The other students were as displeased as James with this new change to the menu. The social unrest was palpable. If there was no pumpkin juice for Halloween, James feared for the peace at Hogwarts. The Third Great Wizarding War might just be on the horizon.  
\-------------------------------  
After another miserable day of no pumpkin juice James and Albus decided to take action.

“Winky, we just want to talk.” James and Albus approached the weeping house elf as if encountering a dangerous animal for the first time. Although for fourth and fifth year boys, that’s an apt description of a crying female.

“GO--hic--AWAY!” She wailed, sloshing the strong smelling drink in her hand.

“Winky, you’ll feel better if you talk about what happened.” Albus tried to speak softly. His mother always said he was the more sensitive of the two boys.

“Here's to everything coming down to nothing!”* She toasted the air, knocking back the funny smelling liquid.

Albus shot a glance to James indicating he was way out of his depth here. James widened his eyes and nodded his head toward the portrait. Albus and James slowly backed away toward it, hoping Winky wouldn’t notice.  
\-------------------------------  
It was as if everyone in the Great Hall heard the sound at once. The distinct pop of a pumpkin juice bottle. A sandy haired Hufflepuff first year glanced around, feeling all eyes on him.

“Uh...” he stammered nervously, “I had a bottle tucked away in my night stand.”

All at once, everyone seemed to lunge at the Hufflepuff table. Elbows were flying, hexes shooting in all directions! Even Professor Flitwick was amongst the riot, reaching for the bottle for himself!

James crawled under the long table, hoping to hop up unnoticed. He was not so fortunate. Albus hung back, weary of the consequences that McGonagall was bound to hand out any minute now. The first year Hufflepuff boy army-crawled out of the crowd, sprinting out of the hall. A few older students chased after him, but most continued fighting for the bottle that might not even still be there.

Suddenly, Albus saw it. The shiny bottle of pumpkin juice sailed through the air, nearly knocking into the floating candles. It shattered near the Slytherin table. The entire hall froze mid-hex and let out a collective gasp.

Attention immediately was redirected to a pursed lipped Minerva McGonagall, who had her hands placed firmly on her hips.  
\-------------------------------  
“We have to do something.” James groaned, sporting a black eye from the Great Pumpkin Juice Riot of 2021.

“Like what?” Albus asked frustrated. They’d had this conversation approximately seventeen times today.

“I don’t know!” James snapped.

The brothers sat in uncomfortable silence.

“Sorry, Al. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” James’ eyes softened.

“It’s okay." Albus accepted the apology.

"What if instead of trying to go through Winky, we convince Remmy that Winky is ready to apologize?” Albus suggested, breaking the silence.

“But only if he brings the pumpkin juice!” James agreed.

Albus snorted with laughter.  
\-------------------------------  
“I don’t see why we couldn’t do this after Transfiguration!” Albus whined when he met his brother at the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor.

“Because I have quidditch practice.” James growled.

“Dissendium!” Albus whispered the password, revealing a dingy passageway.

“But you’re the captain! You could just reschedule!” Albus complained, following his brother into the passageway.

“Don’t be such a baby! Skipping is good for you!”

The bickering filled the hour long walk to the cellar of Honeydukes.

The boys clambered out of the trap door, not nearly as quietly as they had intended to be.

“Who is there?” Remmy climbed down the stairs, wielding an orange umbrella like a sword.

Albus froze in terror, hands raised in surrender.

“Remmy! We are students from Hogwarts! Winky sent us to tell you that she wanted to talk things out!” James said suddenly. He was always the quickest on his feet.

“Winky?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the pair of boys.

“Yes, Winky. It’s very urgent. She’s been in the firewhiskey a lot lately and the food has been vastly overdone lately.” James mused more to himself than to the house elf standing in front of him.

“She also asked that you bring a few deliveries of pumpkin juice to Hogwarts!” Albus added. James had forgotten the entire reason they were there.

“Oh yes! The pumpkin juice is also urgent!” James agreed.

“Remmy must finish restocking shelves while Mrs. Flume is on vacation and then Remmy will come talk to Winky.” Remmy answered thoughtfully after holding them in suspense.

“And bring the pumpkin juice!” James added hastily.

“Right!” Remmy agreed. He turned back up the stairs with a small spring in his step.

“Well that went better than expected.” James commented back in the damp passageway.

“Let’s hope he can talk some sense into Winky now that he’s at least calmed down.” Albus sighed.

“If all else fails, we could slip Winky a calming draft or love potion.” James mused.

“I think that’s highly unethical.” Albus shot his brother a calculating look.

“Killjoy.” James stuck his tongue out.

When they climbed out the trapdoor of the passageway back at the castle, the pair of them rushed to the kitchens to wait for Remmy. His squeaky voice was already echoing from the other side of the portrait. James put a finger to his lips and pressed his ear against the canvas to listen better.

“Forever and always?”* The squeaky voice of Winky asked.

“And even longer!” Remmy assured her.

James and Albus high-fived each other. The pumpkin juice supplies would be safe forever. Or at least until Remmy and Winky found something else to argue about.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: * indicates a quote from Taylor Swift’s ‘Forever and Always’


End file.
